I like to question everything ... and I seriously question to what degree NASA might be saving face in coming to such a quick conclusion here. I am skeptical of the prevailing authoritative "answer" that has been disseminated by most major media outlets worldwide.

There were numerous fireball sightings being reported in the hours before and after. Were those not related either? Has NASA mapped the trajectories of all of those meteors as well? To not seriously analyze this further, and explore all of the possibilities in this 'mere coincidence' here is not even rubbish science to me, it is the absence of science.

I am perplexed by just how quick so many have seemed to be in dismissing the possibility that these two hunks of matter may well be linked in some way (perhaps going far, far back in time). Maybe they are not linked ... but to claim to know so quickly? It reeks of arrogance.

This is not to rant about NASA, as I am a big admirer of all they have accomplished and continue to discover as a group of many, many dedicated individuals. I am in awe of so much of it. But, they have had problems over the years with politics and bureaucracy as well, it is no secret. I am not stating here that I think there is some conspiracy or coverup. It just sounds a bit more like ineptitude mixed in with embarrassment than anything else to me right now. I surely don't have the answers. But I just wish that the current authorities that be could exercise a little humility here and there, and acknowledge that perhaps they don't exactly know either.

Most scientists seem to agree that it is important to do one's best to exhaust all possible scenarios ... and I do not feel as though such careful scrutiny has been applied here in this particular case, where a conclusion was doled out almost immediately. If humanity is indeed going to attempt the planning of any truly long-term goals for the betterment and sustainability of lifeforms on Earth, then it seems that an improved analysis of such objects might be in order.

I actually read some where that there was several studies about a new meteor shower about this time of year. Seems like stone meteors that are quite bright appear about the same time. One study dismissed it while another supported it. Seems like maybe there was a asteroid collision out between Mars and Jupiter that is sending new debris along a new orbital path creating a new shower. This is all conjecture but does fit. The paths seem to be over the top of the Earth going North to South in trajectory. It only occurs once a year during this short time.

Like I said it's debated right now. But there has been some increasing meteors during this time. Especially with N-S paths and being very bright.

That is because any meteors from 2012 DA14 would have a *very* specific radiant very close to the south celestial pole (R.A. 149°, Dec -81°!). This means that any meteoroids with orbits that are similar to 2012 DA14 would be approaching the Earth almost exactly from the south. This is a very fortunate circumstance that allows quick distinction between possibly related and certainly unrelated events. There is much talk about the Earth gravitationally capturing, deflecting and redirecting the Russian meteoroid so that it somehow managed to change directions and come from the direction it did. There indeed is some ‘gravitational focusing’ of meteoroids by the Earth. In meteor astronomy its effect is call zenith attraction. As the meteoroid approaches the Earth it is being ‘pulled in’ and its approach angle becomes steeper. This is especially notable with slow meteoroids. In effect this means that a meteoroid can enter the atmosphere at locations where its radiant is below the horizon – it arcs from a trajectory tangential to the Earth into an intercepting trajectory. A well known meteor astronomer did a short calculation of the zenith attraction for any possible meteoroids from 2012 DA14 and the highest latitude where a meteoroid could enter the atmosphere was 55° N (here it would be on a tangential, grazing trajectory). Chelyabinsk is at 55° N. However, at the time of the Russian meteor this point was on the opposite side of the northern hemisphere (due to the 9° approach angle from the south). Also, the Russian meteor’s atmospheric trajectory had an angle of ~15-20° to the surface, while any meteor from 2012 DA14 would have an extremely shallow grazing trajectory. Furthermore, the Russian meteor came in from ENE, while 2012 DA14 meteoroids come in directly from the south. Not related. In any case, orbit calculations take all these effects into account and clearly the two orbits are not related.

Regarding other fireballs at the time. There is a video of a bright evening fireball over Russia (in fact, only about 700 km west of Chelyabinsk!) on Feb 12. But it clearly fell at a very steep angle, so its radiant was most probably in the northern celestial hemisphere. Not related. The Feb 15 Cuba meteor is very dubious with no videos and very few (if any) eyewitness reports. At its supposed magnitude, it should have been seen over a very large area by many people. The Feb 14 Japan fireball (which is not really very large anyway) has a different orbit, although both are Apollo-type orbits with aphelia in the main asteroid belt. The Feb 15 California fireball (which is even smaller) requires a slightly more detailed analysis of the video and eyewitness reports, so not sure about that one.

The 'new' meteor shower in February is not related with the Chelyabinsk superbolide. The meteor shower is caused by a long period comet, the Chelyabinsk meteoroid was in a short period orbit with aphelion in the main asteroid belt. Completely different parent bodies and completely different orbits.CS!Jure

When we take a step back as mere mortal humans, it does not take us long to realize just how little we really know about the depths of space ... let alone the depths our own oceans, atoms, or even brains. Only recently have we begun to plumb these depths. In the spans of cosmic history, this is an exceedingly small window of time during which we have been gaining insights thus far. It would behoove us all to exercise as much patience as possible in dealing with the natural worlds, and to ever continue to meekly seek out more answers.

"But some YouTube-aided detective work suggests that the meteor's parent body belonged to the Apollo family of Earth-crossing asteroids, whose elliptical orbits take them farther than one Earth-sun distance (about 93 million miles) from our star at some point, researchers said."